30 minutes of activity a day is enough to prevent weight gain for most people. This is easily achieved with a slight modification to your daily routine. A good example is to take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk to nearby diners instead of catching a cab, join a yoga class and going for power walks in the evening.

Previously you read about how nicotine gum can be used to prevent weight gain. A second significant medication proven to delay post smoking weight gain is Zyban (sustained-release bupropion) (Rigotti 1999). The effects of Zyban on weight gain were evident by 2 months, and Zyban treatment showed a sustained and significant effect up to 1 year after stopping it.

The first tip for preventing weight gain is to chew gum. It is as simple as that. Chewing gum also reduces the oral fixation that some smokers crave for. You can choose any kind of gum, but the benefit of choosing a nicotine gum is that it also acts to reduce your craving for nicotine.

Before we begin, let me tell you a secret…. dieting itself is ineffective. You heard it right. It is not beneficial to go on a diet while you are trying to stop smoking. 2 studies (Hall 1992 and Pirie 1992) have shown that dieting is actually counter-productive! It is too much for somebody to control food intake while stopping smoking at the same time.

Of all the aversion techniques, rapid smoking has been the only one shown to be effective in over 12 research studies. It leads to significantly lower urges to smoke in the immeidate 24 hours and this effect lasts up to 1 week. However at 4 weeks, there was only a very minor decrease in smoking urge compared to self paced smoking or the cold turkey no smoking technique.

The first few days after your ‘Quit date’ can be difficult. Smoking craving is something many smokers experience, and it is the one thing that makes ‘cold turkey’ difficult. In order to quit, you will need to learn different methods of coping with the cravings.

A recent study published in the journal ‘Addiction’ showed that even short bouts of exercise lasting as little as 5 minutes can reduce smoking cravings. Experts at the University of Exeter concluded that exercise can help smokers manage their withdrawal symptoms and even help them resist the urge to smoke by releasing the same chemicals in the brain that is released during smoking.

The Cochrane library has done a review of literature regarding hypnosis and smoking cessation, concluding that there was not enough evidence to say that hypnosis helps individuals quit smoking at 6 months. However, the author acknowledged that there was great variability in the types of hypnotic induction, length and control groups, thus making evaluation difficult.

Nicorette gum is another good nicotine replacement product but can cause jaw pain when used excessively. Soft drinks and coffee used before chewing can also affect the rapid relief that you will get so if you need the immediate relief from nicotine, and inhaler might be more effective.

Nicorette inhalers are useful tools and are often preferred because of their subjective resemblence to cigarette use. It should be used by adults up to 12 cartridges a day for up to 3 months. This should be used concurrently with education and medical support.